JB on the fritz....

Jr_vw2

Jr_vw2

New member
Ok so I have a JB that is giving me a fit. It's only metering out at 8.56 or something like that. And it sounds like a single coil. I pulled it apart to check for broken wires and dont see anything on the leads. And each coil meters out at 8.56 so that makes me think that both coils are good still. But something isnt adding up. This is the wiring inside the pickup. Pickup was wired....bare and green to ground. Red and white pairs and black to the switch.

With the pickup all together it meters out at 8.56 on the black wire and the green/bare


 
Re: JB on the fritz....

When connected, have you confirmed both coils are working by tapping a screwdriver on the poles?
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

If the coils read correct when measured at the pickup but not from the end of the 4-conductor wiring, I would suspect a break in the hookup cable.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

I think there is definitely a short somewhere. I took it back apart to have another look didnt see anything so I put it back together and bam it was full power. So I played with it for awhile. Sou ded great. Just like a JB should sound so I went to wire in my push pull pot and noticed that it was out of phase. Pot pushed in was single coil pot pulled out was HB and exact opposite for the neck pickup and they are sharing the same pot. So I though I might have put the mag back in the wrong way so I pulled the pickup back out and spun the mag around and now we are. Ack not not working. I'm honestly done with this stupid pickup. I just ordered another one. Lol. This was used so there is ot telling what its history is.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

Sounds like there was nothing wrong with the pup, just the way you have it wired. Very, very easy to fix.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

There is definitely something wrong with it. After it was put back together the last time. I have little to no output.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but you are insulating those connections when you put it back together, right?
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

Can you isolate which coil is not working? Or is it both?
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

Jr_vw2 said:
I think there is definitely a short somewhere. I took it back apart to have another look didnt see anything so I put it back together and bam it was full power. So I played with it for awhile. Sounded great. Just like a JB should sound so
Click to expand...

So therefore the pup is fine.

Jr_vw2 said:
I went to wire in my push pull pot and noticed that it was out of phase. Pot pushed in was single coil pot pulled out was HB and exact opposite for the neck pickup and they are sharing the same pot.
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First of all, that's not "out of phase", it's just wired incorrectly. To have two humbuckers share the same p/p pot for "split", use the following diagram and it can't help but work properly. The diagram shows one pup wired to the p/p, wire the other pup the same way to the other side of the p/p. Make sure you are using the same colored wires on both sides to split to the same coil of each pup. Use the color scheme in the top diagram for one pup and the colors in the bottom diagram for the other pup to split to opposite coils of the pups.

https://docs.google.com/gview?embed...content/uploads/2016/05/WD_Coil_Splitting.pdf

Jr_vw2 said:
So I though I might have put the mag back in the wrong way so I pulled the pickup back out and spun the mag around and now we are. Ack not not working. I'm honestly done with this stupid pickup.
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So then, again, it is obvious that it is NOT the pup, it's your wiring or something that YOU have done to it.

Jr_vw2 said:
I just ordered another one. Lol. This was used so there is ot telling what its history is.
Click to expand...

With your skills at wiring, I'd suggest that you take your guitar and pup to a tech to have it wired. Otherwise you are going to have the same problems all over again and you will be blaming the pup instead of what you did to it.

ps: If you think that the other pup is bad, p.m. me and I'll send you my address...I'll be glad to take that useless hunk of junk off your hands.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

Thanks for the kind words. I am not an idiot. Pickups are wired like this.





Yes I agree the pickup itself is fine but there is definitely a short somewhere in the wiring in the pickup itself. Not at the pot or anywhere I have wired. But since my skills are so great. I probably dont know what I'm talking about.....
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

^ Don't freak out. That same thing happened to me where the pup went split from the leads getting pinched in the pickguard.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

So here is my thoughts.....I have metered the leads from the pickup end to the guitar end and tried to move them around and what not and I cant find a fault in any if that wiring. I believe the problem lies in the small leads that are coming off the windings and when it is put together I think its putting one or more wires into a short. All the bare ends are well insulated and apart on the bench everything meters out fine. And I even had it working fine for awhile.

A lot of this could be me not explaining the problem correctly. Either way I'll get it sorted out when I have more time to fool with it.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

If that diagram is actually how your p/p is wired then you WON'T get what you said..."Pot pushed in was single coil, pot pulled out was HB and exact opposite for the neck pickup". If your guitar actually WAS wired like that diagram, when the p/p is in, BOTH pups will be series/humbucker mode. When the pot is pulled out, BOTH pups will be split/single coil mode. It's impossible to get split on the bridge pup with the p/p in (if it is wired as in the diagram).

Have you looked at the wire connections at the pup coil wires (where the colored wires are soldered to the coil wires)? Have you metered the wires at that point to see if the correct colored wires are connected to the correct coil wires? Even if the wires are incorrectly connected at that point, you WON'T get the result you described! It would be impossible.

Even now you admit that..."Yes I agree the pickup itself is fine", but you still refuse to accept any responsibility for the problem when you follow that up by saying..."but there is definitely a short somewhere in the wiring in the pickup itself". No, it doesn't appear to be in the pickup itself from what you have described.

All I ask is that you be a little open minded about trying to find the problem so it can be fixed. Isn't that what you want? Put a meter on the coil wires to make sure that the correct colored wires are connected to the right coil wires. Check your wiring of the p/p to make sure it actually is like the diagram. Make sure all the solder connections are good...no cold joints. Make sure there are no wires or solder blobs touching anything they shouldn't. All wire connections are insulated.

If you do these things your guitar will work as desired. Stop deflecting blame. It isn't about who or what is to blame, it's about correcting the problem. But you can't correct a problem that you don't admit exists or if you blame something that isn't at fault.
 
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Re: JB on the fritz....

GuitarDoc said:
Believe it or not, we ARE trying to help you if you will let us.
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I get that and I'm not trying to deflect blame. But I do know that 100% it is wired correctly to the p/p pot. I will take a pic when I get and chance and post it here for verification. I dont recall if I actually scratched the pole pieces to verify that it was split coil in and HB with the pot out. I do recall it sounding very thin. And that is why I said I may not be describing the problem correctly. After putting the p/p pot in and it sounding thin my first thought was I installed the mag backwards even though I marked it I figured it was possible. So I pulled the pu back out. But I did not disconnect it from the pot. I lifted the backnoff the pu to verify the mag was in correctly and it was. And once it was reinstalled in the guitar I had almost zero output from the pickup. I pulled the pot and verified my connections and re flowed the solder to make sure it was sound. Still nothing. Thar was the last I have gotten into it. And also what still leads me to think that the short lies in the small leads coming off the coils them selves as seen in the first picture posted in this thread.

Maybe that is a better explanation of my change of events.
 
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Re: JB on the fritz....

In taking the baseplate off and removing and replacing the magnet, you very easily could have broken one of the thin coil wires (not any of the thick wires shown in your pic, none of those are the thin coil wires. The coil wires are the very, very thin copper colored wires which can be seen through the little square window in the bobbin). But you were having problems before this, anyway.

Back to the p/p split switch...
You said..."Pot pushed in was single coil, pot pulled out was HB"...even if you didn't tap on the poles or the pup to check the accuracy of this statement, it's pretty hard to get that sound backwards, even from just listening to it. It's impossible to get the sound of full series humbucker mixed up with its much weaker split tone. But what you describe is exactly opposite relative to the diagram. That CAN'T happen! No matter what color wires you used, no matter if they are incorrectly attached to the thin coil wires inside the pup, IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AS YOU DESCRIBED if you indeed followed the diagram...it is electrically impossible. And for the neck pup to behave in an opposite manner as the bridge ("and exact opposite for the neck pickup") is also electrically IMPOSSIBLE! Can't happen! Ever! No matter what else is wrong with the pickup or any wiring, this won't ever happen if you followed the diagram.

So quit saying..."it is wired correctly to the p/p pot". It isn't. I don't even have to see a picture of it to know that.

However, IF you actually DO have it wired correctly, then there are only two possible explanations:
1) You are deaf and can't hear a thing and just going by intuition when you describe the problem;
2) You are a troll and are just making all of this up and wasting our time.

I just looked at the pic in your first post again. Where is the braided plain silver shield wire?
 
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Re: JB on the fritz....

It’s not clear where you are taking your measurements from when you say it measures 8k total, but you’ve already proven both coils work (if you stop taking the pickup apart, hopefully it will continue working) and that would indicate the wiring itself is making the pickup split all the time. Either something wrong with the push pull switch, or the soldering, or the red+white wires getting grounded when the guitar is put back together.
 
Re: JB on the fritz....

This is how the pot is wired. C1 and c2 have the red and white leads coming from each pickup. 1 and 3 go to ground. Green and bare wires to ground


 
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